My tongue was sour with guilt, but underneath it, creeping its way up through my innards, was something worse. Tristan had warned me that releasing the trolls would be the downfall of humanity, forcing me to see the faces of my friends and family as those who would suffer first. And what was this, if not a precursor of what would happen should I succeed in my hunt? It was an omen, as dark and ugly as I had seen, and yet there was no turning back.

Because over and over in my ear, I heard a voice. Louder now, like the call of a hound who has caught the scent of his quarry.

Find her.

Chapter 11

Tristan

Trollus seemed overly bright as Marc and I walked toward the entrance to the mines. I moved without really seeing, the details of the comings and goings of my city sliding by in a blur. As we rounded the corner and the wide steps leading down to the mines materialized ahead of us, my legs seemed to forget their purpose, and I tripped, stumbling to a halt.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Marc said under his breath.

No. “Yes.” My voice sounded far away. “This conversation needs to be had.”

Marc hesitated, shooting me an uneasy look. “It can be had elsewhere.”

“I’m not so sure that’s the case.” My intense distaste for the mines was an extremely well kept secret, in that only Marc, the twins, and Anaïs knew anything about it. And the only reason they knew was because when I was ten, Anaïs had dared us all to sneak down. Pride had been enough to get me down there, but it ran out before I could get back out again. Then claustrophobia had taken over, and I couldn’t have gotten out faster. It had taken all four of them to control me long enough to ride the lift out, and I could tell Marc wasn’t looking forward to repeating that experience. Neither was I.

“I’m not a child to be governed by my illogical fears,” I muttered more to myself than to him, forcing my feet to start moving toward the deceptively quiet entrance.

The mines were even louder than I remembered. The shifts had changed two hours ago, so the corridors were almost empty, but I could hear the dull throb of explosions from deep in the earth and the crack of rock as it was crushed to remove the ore. The heat was intense, the air thick with the magic needed to melt the gold down so it could be poured into various molds.

I mechanically followed Marc toward the lift shaft, the dust in the air sticking to my tongue and filling my lungs. There were two guild members sitting on stools near the shaft, their heads bent over a deck of cards. Both jumped up as we entered the room, eyes widening when they recognized me.

“We’ve business in the mines,” Marc said to them.